Washington politicians have been selling us that snake oil for as long as we can remember. And yet year-after-year, election-after-election, the parties in power may change but the results stay the same — the Washington Cartel wins and the American people lose.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

The debt limit rises regardless of who wins. Middle class wages are stagnated regardless of who wins. Amnesty is championed regardless of who wins. The sanctity of life and marriage are abandoned regardless of who wins. Religious liberty is threatened regardless of who wins.

The corruption of the Washington Cartel has brought our way of life to a tipping point moment, which explains why polls continue to show a majority of Americans believe we’re on the wrong track, and their children will have it worse off than they did. Each day on the campaign trail across the country I run into everyday Americans who fear our best days are behind us.

“This one really is the most important election of our lifetimes,” I constantly hear.

And you know what, they’re right. We cannot afford to continue the slouch towards Gomorrah nor the march to socialism if we wish to preserve liberty for ourselves — let alone our children and grandchildren.

But I have good news. We have faced this before, emerged victorious as a people, and it wasn’t all that long ago.

As a child growing up with my father Rafael, who escaped communist tyranny in Cuba to come to America, I heard firsthand the stories of what happens when an all-powerful government believes it has the power to replace almighty God in our lives. Furthermore, I heard similar stories from my aunt, who was tortured by Castro’s minions because she believed in freedom.

My family instilled in me that freedom is always just one generation away from being lost, and that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. I watched my father become an activist to help Ronald Reagan get elected president in 1980, because we were facing many of the same existential crises we are facing today. Replace Carter with Obama, and the Soviet Union with radical Islamic terrorism, and you end up with a nation gripped by similar malaise. Questioning whether we can once more be that shining city on a hill, and whether we still have the resolve and courage of conviction to boldly proclaim to the world “where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.”

The American people last arrived at this rendezvous with destiny in 1980 and answered history’s call. The result was a landslide victory for Reagan, with an unprecedented alliance of Catholics and Evangelicals playing a key role in that outcome. The next eight years saw a resurgence of patriotism, the defeat of the Soviet Union’s evil empire, and the longest sustained period of economic growth since the post-World War II years.

A generation ago we used the Reagan Revolution to challenge the culture of corruption and preemptive surrender in Washington, and we won. Now it’s our generation’s turn to follow in their footsteps, which is why I’m running for president in 2016. But this isn’t about getting me elected, this is about using this election to give “we the people” a voice in their government again. To make D.C. listen.

There are many of what I like to call “campaign conservatives” running for president at the moment, and while I sincerely hope their conversions on the road to Des Moines and the first-in-the-nation Iowa Caucuses are as sincere as Saul’s was on the road to Damascus, the Scriptures make it clear that “by their fruit you will know them.”

I have a record of standing and fighting for our principles like life, marriage, the Second Amendment, and standing with our ally Israel – against both Democrats and Republicans. I take seriously my oath of office to defend our Constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic.

Make no mistake, the Washington Cartel loathes the Constitution because it limits their power in order to maximize our freedom. That’s why Washington politicians do nothing while unelected judges act as black-robed tyrants trashing the Constitution and trampling on our God-given rights from the bench.

I can promise you this – Washington isn’t going to change until we rise up in unison and make it so. Therefore, as you decide whom to support in this race I ask you to consider this one question – which candidate has proven they will stand and fight for our beliefs regardless of what the media and the party bosses think?

We stand in the presence of a large cloud of witnesses. Men and women whose faith in an all-powerful God, a risen Savior, and the promise of America literally changed the world. It is now our generation’s turn to say “here I am Lord, send me.”

Let us be found worthy for such a time as this. So that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Columbus, Ohio (CNN)Donald Trump said Monday that he witnessed people jumping out of the Twin Towers on 9/11 from the view in his apartment.

“Many people jumped and I witnessed it, I watched that. I have a view — a view in my apartment that was specifically aimed at the World Trade Center,” Trump said Monday during a rally in Columbus, Ohio.

“And I watched those people jump and I watched the second plane hit … I saw the second plane hit the building and I said, ‘Wow that’s unbelievable,'” Trump continued.